Woe to the Wicked

As I was reading Isaiah 5 this morning, I ran across 6 "woes" God delivered to the people of Israel through the prophet. I immediately thought of the 7 "woes" Jesus spoke to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23. In both cases, God is calling attention to the sin and hypocrisy of the people.

The first thing I thought was do I really know what woe means. It's not a word that is used much in my hearing but I think of it as an expression of sadness as in "woe is me". I've always thought it is an exclamation of condemnation in the Bible. When I looked it up I found that it is an exclamation of distress, grief or sorrow.

So that made me think about not only the distress, grief or sorrow that would come upon those who are the object of the "woe" but also of the distress, grief and sorrow that God feels because of my sin. Later in Isaiah, Jesus is called a man of sorrows. We know he was grieved by Jerusalem because of her unwillingness to believe in Him.

And that led to me think again about Psalm 139:23-24 that we are praying through this week as a church. What in my life is causing distress, grief or sorrow to my Savior? How is my life not measuring up to the "be holy for I am holy" command of God? How am I crucifying Jesus all over again with my sin?

With the happenings of the last few days, I also thought of the death of Osama bin Laden. So many are rejoicing at the death of this evil man who was meted out the justice he deserved. But he, too, was a man created in the image of God. He, too, was a man for whom Jesus died. Is my sin any worse? Did the nails from my sin hurt Jesus any less?

Oh, how thankful I am that I am covered by the righteousness of Christ!